BURRILLVILLE, R.I. (WPRI) – A man facing multiple federal charges after hundreds of guns were found inside his Burrillville home is now facing new state-level weapons and domestic violence counts.
Ronald Andruchuk, 37, was charged last week with nine counts by the R.I. Attorney General’s Office, including drug possession, domestic violence, cyberstalking and ghost gun charges.
Andruchuk has been held at the Wyatt Detention Center since his arrest in February after detectives found 211 firearms, a flamethrower, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and a number of partially constructed ghost guns strewn about his house, which he shared with his wife and three children.
According to court documents, Andruchuk was in possession of ghost guns and parts in the style of an AR-15, as well as cocaine, amphetamines, and methamphetamines.
He is also accused of sending messages to his wife “for the sole purpose of harassing her,” according to the court document.
As part of a search warrant on his cellphone, an investigator wrote “I observed a large quantity of these text messages to show extreme violence to include physical and verbal abuse by Ronald Andruchuk against” his wife.
In a series of text messages to his wife from August 2021, Andruchuk repeatedly threatened to kill her and repeatedly used racial epithets.
“I outta murder you with a 12 round clip,” he wrote.
“I am going to put 10 rounds in your skull,” he said in another text.
At one point she responded, “Simply not safe with you you are on drugs threatening to kill me over and over and I know u will really do it.”
She added, “You spent the whole time at gun stores and doing the same drugs and abandoning and compulsive shopping.”
“You are making a lot of very bad decisions and someone will end up dead or in jail soon,” she wrote.
In another set of text messages from October, Andruchuk wrote “If you blatantly disrespect me I’ll kick your face in,” adding “pathetic excuse for a mother and wife.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Sullivan was prepared to release him under the condition he be electronically monitored, but she changed her mind upon receiving new evidence hours before his bail hearing in March.
Earlier this month Andruchuk’s attorney requested a new detention hearing in an effort to spring him from prison with certain monitoring conditions, but on Monday cancelled that request.
“The State of Rhode Island Attorney General filed charges against Mr. Andruchuk via criminal information on or about June 24, 2022 in Superior Court alleging firearms offenses not covered by the government’s indictment that is pending before this Court,” attorney John Calcagni wrote. “The Superior Court also issued a warrant for Mr. Andruchuk’s arrest that presently calls for a hold with no bail.”
“Based upon these recent developments, the defense sees no good faith basis to proceed with a detention hearing at this time,” Calcagni wrote.
Andruchuk is facing three federal counts including possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and lying on a firearms application. Prosecutors said Andruchuk has had a history of illegal drug use, which he failed to disclose on his firearms application.
He has pleaded not guilty. An arraignment on the new state charges has not yet been scheduled.
Tim White (twhite@wpri.com) is Target 12 managing editor and chief investigative reporter and host of Newsmakers for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.